Apparatus for feeding a continuous untwisted multifilament strand



April 17, 1962 R. G. RUSSELL 3,029,993 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING ACONTINUOUS UNTWISTED MULTIFILAMENT STRAND Original Filed Dec. 20. 1954 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Ross/2r G. RUSSELL A ril 17, 1962 R. s. RUSSELL3,029,993

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING A CONTINUOUS UNTWISTED MULTIFILAMENT STRAND 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 20. 1954 0 -ADHE$|ON I I STRANDINVENTOR. ROBERT C. RUSSELL UJ D 2 Claims. (Cl. 226-190) Thisapplication is a division of my co-pending application Serial No.476,193, filed December 20, 1954, now abandoned.

This invention relates to rotary means for feeding a continuousmultifilament strand and, more particularly, to rotary means consistingof a single high speed wheel so designed that only portions of itsperipheral surface are contacted by the continuous multifilament strandbeing fed.

Although pulling wheels embodying the invention may be utilized forfeeding many different types of continuous strands they are particularlyuseful for feeding continuous multifilament glass fiber strands and willbe shown for such use. Such a strand is formed by simultaneouslyattenuating some 200 to 400, individual fine glass fibers, laterallycompacting the group of fibers together in substantially parallel,untwisted relationship and then handling the strand thus associated as aunit.

Some success has been achieved in feeding strands of this type at highlineal speeds by feeding them between the peripheries of co-actingrotary pulling wheels mounted upon parallel axes so spaced that thestrands are tightly gripped between the bites of the pulling wheels, theperipheries of the pulling wheels being fabricated from deformablematerial. The use of co-acting rotary pulling wheels of this typeinduces a serious problem in that such a strand of a multiplicity ofparallel fibers tends to split and to lick, i.e. to wrap around, one orboth of the pulling wheels.

Another difiiculty with co-acting pairs of pulling wheels is thenecessity that their surfaces be deformable to an extent such that theywill contact each other tightly around the strand being fed. When wheelshaving surfaces capable of thus contacting each other are rotated atsufficient speeds so that the peripheral speeds reach the neighborhoodof, say 14,000 to 15,000 feet per minute, the centrifugal force createdis so great that the deformable material soon passes its limitationsand, as a result of the repeated, constant flexing in the bite betweenthe wheels, bits and pieces of the material fly off the wheels.

It is the object of this invention to provide a pulling wheel whichmaintains peripheral contact over only portions of its peripheralsurface with a multifilament strand being fed but which is not subjectto overwhelming destructive forces since it can be fabricated frommaterial having great tensile strength.

Another object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a singlepulling wheel around at least a portion of the periphery of which astrand being fed is led and which can be rotated to produce linearspeeds of the strand greatly in excess of the speeds formerly limited bythe lack of sufficient tensile strength in resilient surfaced pullingwheels.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a single highspeed rotary pulling wheel having a pcriphery so designed as tofacilitate both the engagement and disengagement of the strandtherefrom.

These objects and others will be better understood from the followingdescription and from the drawings, in which:

nit-ed States Pate O FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view in frontelevation of a strand feeding wheel constructed and operated accordingto the invention and showing its use for the feeding of a multifilament,untwisted strand coinprising a large number of fibers.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in side elevation of one modification ofpulling wheel embodying the invention.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the pulling wheel shown in Fig. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary View in perspective, and on a further enlargedscale, of a pulling wheel embodying the invention as shown in FIGS. 2and 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in elevation of a part of the pulling wheelshown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view on an enlarged scale similar to FIG.2, but showing another modification of pulling wheel embodying theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 6, in part, andillustrating the pulling wheel shown in FIG. 6 at a slightly advancedposition with respect to the position of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in elevation similar to FIG. 5 but of thepulling wheel shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 9-9of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 6, but of yet anothermodification of pulling wheel embodying the invention.

As illustrative of one of the many uses for pulling wheels embodying'theinvention, in FIG. 1 a plurality of individual glass filaments 22 isshown as being grouped together in parallelism by a gathering shoe 23 toform a multifilament, untwisted continuous strand 24. The

gathering shoe 23, as shown in FIG. 1, is simply a small that flows froma valve controlled pipe 25 connected to a supply tank 26.

The liquid employed may be denominated as a lubricant or coating and itserves the function of lubricating the individual filaments from eachother as well as causing them to adhere together somewhat as a unitarystrand and, as will be explained below, of cooperating according to themethod of the invention with a pulling wheel designed according to theinvention for successfully feeding the strand 24.

While direct application of a liquid to the filaments 22 is shown inFIG. 1, this figure is merely illustrative and so arranged to show thenature of the strand 24 as being made up of a plurality of separatefibers which are not twisted together as well as showing one way ofapplying liquid thereto. In other uses of pulling wheels according tothe invention, the liquid may be applied directly on the strand 24 ormay already be on the strand 24, as for example, when it has been coatedat the time of initial formation and then is subsequently fed accordingto the invention. The force for feeding the strand 24 is providedaccording to the invention by a high speed rotary pulling wheel 27mounted for rotation upon a gen erally horizontal axle 28.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 2-5 comprises thepulling wheel 27 which is illustrated as having a plurality of spacedperipheral notches 29. Each of the notches, as can best be seen in FIG.4, extends inwardly from one edge of the rim of the pulling wheel 27towards its opposite edge and each of the notches 29 becomes narrower asit proceeds across the surface of the pulling wheel 27. Acircumferential area, generally in-' 3 2-5 is illustrative with respectto the particular angles between the edges of the notches 29, theirdepth, their axial length, etc., but the basic concept of the notchesand their circumferential spacing from each other is fundamental to theinvention.

In this embodiment of the invention the multifilament strand 24 isillustrated as being guided onto the surface of the pulling wheel 27 bya laterally movable guide shoe 31, the guide shoe 31 being mounted upona carriage 32. The carriage 32 may be moved axially of the pulling wheel(see FIG. 3) by rotating a vernier knob 33 or similar mechanism, so thatthe line of engagement of the strand 24 with the surface of the pullingwheel 27 may be varied as desired. In FIG. 5 the strand 24 is shown insolid lines at the center of a fragment of the pulling wheel 27, thisposition being denominated as Pos. B, with broken line indications oftwo, more or less, extreme positions of the strand being. denominated asPos. A and P05. C. By shifting the shoe 32 axially with respect to thepulling wheel 27 and thus moving the line of engagement of the strand 24across the surface of the pulling wheel 27, the strand 24 is engagedwith more or less wheel surface; for example, if the strand 24 is guidedinto Pos. A (FIG. 5), it engages with only the ends of tooth-likeportions 34 of the wheel surface between the notches 29 and thus with amuch lesser total length of the surface of the wheel 27. Conversely, ifthe strand 24 is led onto the surface of the wheel 27 in the positiondenominated los. C, then it is in contact with the wheel 27 throughoutthe angular extent of its wrap around the wheel 27.

By properly guiding the strand 24 onto the pulling wheel 27, so that theextent of strand contact with the wheel is of the proper duration, thestrand 24 can be delivered from the pulling wheel 27 as a unitarydriving strand directed in the direction selected according to thedegree of contact.

Factors which modify the degree of angular contact between the strand 24and the pulling wheel 27, and are thus determinative of the properpositive of the strand 24 axially on the pulling wheel 27, include thenature of the liquid on the strand 24, its surface tension, adhesion tothe material of which the wheel 27 is fabricated, the size of the strand27, the resistance to feeding of the strand 24, etc. With respect to anyparticular strand, experimentation may be necessary to determine theprecise angle of application of the strand 24 to the surface of thepulling wheel 27 and the position axially of the wheel to which thestrand is guided, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Pos. C" of FIG. 5 is showntherein merely illustratively and is not an operating conditionaccording to the invention.

The belief that surface tension of the liquid wetting the surface of thepulling wheel contributes to the operation of a Wheel according to theinvention is based upon experimentation made with the embodiment of theinvention illustrated in FIGS. 2-5. The axial position of the strand 24with respect to the notches 29 (FIG. 5) is determinative of the lengthof surface of the wheel 27 which the strand 24 contacts. The tractiveforce of the wheel 27 constructed and operated according to theinvention may be varied according to the resistance to pulling of theparticular strand being pulled and to achieve the point of departure ofthe strand 24 from the pulling wheel 27 which is desired. With respectto any particular strand 24, it will be found that shifting the strandtoo far to the left (FIG. 5) so reduces the surface contact of thestrand 24 with the wheel 27 that it will not be fed at all. Conversely,shifting the strand 24 too far to the right (FIG. 5) places the strand24 in continuous contact with the surface of the wheel 27 and separationof the strand 24 without additional separation means is made unreliable.

In this embodiment of the invention, the tooth-like portions 34 functionas adhesive or tractive portions of the surface of the pulling wheel 27,the intervening notches 29 not acting to exert any tractive force in thestrand 24 and thus not contributing to its feeding.

The embodiment of the invention just described, as well as others, arecapable of use for feeding multifilament, untwisted glass fiber strandswhere no co-hesive force exists between the parallel filaments withoutsplitting the strand because the tendency of such strands to lick thesurface can be controlled. Such wheels and such method are, therefore,useful in the initial formation of such strands by attenuating thefilaments from individual hot streams of glass while feeding them.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6-9, as in the caseof the'earlier embodiment, consists of alternating tractive andnon-tractive wheel portions, in this case provided by the use ofalternating sections of material to which the strand does and does notadhere. In this embodiment of the invention a pulling wheel 3'5 ismounted for high speed rotation upon an axle 36 and utilized to feed acontinuous multifilament strand 37 of the type generally describedabove. The peripheral surface of the pulling wheel 35 consists ofalternating areas which are fabricated from materials that are, forexample, wettable and non-wettable by the liquid applied to thefilaments or to the surface of the pulling wheel. Thesecircumferentially spaced areas of the periphery exert tractive orfeeding forces on the strand 37 and intervening areas do not.

In the pulling wheel 35 of FIGS. 6-9, the tractive or pulling areas areportions of the wheel itself and are indicated by the reference number38. These areas are alternated with inserts formed from non-wettablematerial and which are, therefore, non-tractive, the inserts beingindicated by the reference number 39. One manner of forming the areas 39is shown most clearly in FIG. 9 where they are illustrated as consistingof arcuate dovetailed inserts made of a material different from thatfrom which the pulling wheel 35 is constructed and having a surfacewhich repels liquid applied to the strand to be fed and thus is notwetted.

As a result of the alternating wettable and non-wettable areas 38 and39, the strand 37 tends to cling tightly to the wettable or adhesiveareas 38 and to fall free immediately from the non-wettable ornon-adhesive areas 39. The resulting action is shown diagrammatically inFIGS. 6 and 7. For purposes of comparison of these figures, an indexarrow is shown exteriorly of the pulling wheel 35 and an indicator arrownumbered 40 in FIGS. 6 and 7 is shown on the side of the pulling wheel35. It will be observed by comparing FIGURES 6 and 7 that the wheel 35has rotated a distance sufficient to move the indicator 40 away from theindex a circumferential distance corresponding to one of the alternatingareas 38 or 39. While the alternating areas 38 and 39 are illustrated ashaving the same extent circumferentially, it will be appreciated that bymaking the inserts 39 either smaller or larger than the areas 38 of thewheel itself, varying results in the amount of tractive force exertedand in the manner and position of strand delivery off of the wheel canbe achieved.

In FIG. 6, the strand 37 is shown as clinging to an area 38 at the pointindicated by the legend adhesion. In FIG. 7 the strand 37 is shown asfalling free from the next following one of the areas 39 as indicated bythe legend non-adhesion. The strand 37 is thus alternatingly carried upslightly and then dropped by the wettable and non-wettable areas 38 and39 and the strand is delivered off the pulling wheel 35 with a generallysinusoidal configuration.

By controlling the factors involved, for example, the speed of rotationof the pulling Wheel 35, the circumferential extent of the wettable andnon-wettable areas 38 and 39, the quantity of liquid placed on thestrand 37,

ambient air temperature and currents, etc., the strand 37 may be fed bythe pulling wheel 35 and delivered at a controllable position off thewheel 35 and in a controlled wave form configuration. Delivery of thestrand in a wave form configuration according to this embodiment of theinvention reduces its net linear speed by the ratio between the actuallength of the strand extending between two points along the strand andthe distance between those two points along a straight line.

While the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 25 isdesigned to permit simple variation in the circumferential extent of thewettable surfaces 34 with which the strand is in contact, the wettablesurfaces 38 of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6-9are pre-selected as a result of experimentation to perform in a certainmanner with respect ot the feeding of a strand of certain size andweight, and under certain conditions.

Similarly, the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 10 is asimple modification of the embodiment of FIGS. 2-5 according to themanner of FIGS. 69. In FIG. 10 a pulling wheel 41 is shown as havingspaced, protruding, tooth-like portions 42 which function as wettableand adhesive portions to provide traction for the feeding andattenuation of a continuous multifilament strand 43. Alternating withthe wettable portions 42 are intervening notches 44 which extend fromside to side of the pulling wheel of FIG. 10. In common with the earlierdescribed embodiments of the invention, in the embodiment of FIG. 10 thestrand 43 or wheel 41 carries a suitable liquid for wetting the surfaceportions 42 to cause adhesion and thus traction between the pullingwheel 41 and the strand 43.

As in the earlier embodiments of the invention, a slight wave formationmay be placed in the strand 43 by reason of its adherence to thewettable portions 42 and, of course, its non-adherence to the spacesprovided by the notches 44. Such a configuration is shown in FIG. 10.

I claim:

1. Means for longitudinally feeding a continuous multifilament glassfiber strand, said means consisting of a single rotary pulling wheelhaving a cylindrical periphery, means for mounting said wheel forrotation about a horizontal axis, circumferentially spaced areas of theperiphery of said wheel lying in and extending circumferentially along asubstantially smooth, cylindrical surface generated aroundsaidhorizontal axis of said wheel and being separated circumferentiallyfrom each other by intervening, radially depressed areas, said areasbeing triangularly shaped notches in plan with the apex of eachtriangular notch lying in the surface of the wheel and the base of eachtriangular notch opening at one edge of said wheel, there being acontinuous cylindrical surface along the edge of said wheel adjacent theapexes and an interrupted cylindrical surface between said triangularnotches adjacent the bases, means for longitudinally guiding said strandgenerally tangentially into contact with the periphery of the saidwheel, means for applying a liquid, having a high surface tension andcapable of wetting the spaced cylindrical surface areas of said wheel,to said strand prior to its engagement with said wheel, and means forrotating said wheel at high speed about said horizontal axis.

2. Means according to claim 1 in which said means for longitudinallyguiding said strand generally tangentially into contact with theperiphery of said wheel comprises a guide shoe, a carriage for mountingsaid guide shoe, and means for selectively moving said carriage axiallyof said pulling wheel to vary the line of engagement of said strand withsaid wheel whereby the amount of peripheral surface of said wheel inengagement with said strand is altered to change the degree of angularcontact between said strand and said wheel, said degree being decreasedas said carriage is moved in the direction of the bases of said notches,and increased as said carriage is moved in the direction of the apexesof said notches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,259,202. Cooper Oct. 14, 1941 2,313,630 Dockerty Mar. 9, 19432,320,891 Ryder June 1, 1943 2,447,131 McDermott Aug. 17, 1948 2,561,761Tempe 'July 24, 1951 2,621,444 Schuller Q. Dec. 16, 1952 2,685,763Courtney et al Aug. 10, 1954 2,729,029 Slayter Jan. 3, 1956 2,729,030Slayter Jan. 3, 1956 2,773,588 Downing Dec. 11, 1956 2,909,827 WaughOct. 27, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 666,148 Great Britain Feb. 6, 1952

